April 20, 2016

Bizzy Busy Bee!

What is it about this time of year that makes it super busy? I have several major projects going on all at the same time.

As you might remember, my friend Andrea and I are decorating a tent for the Circus Ball at Evergreen house next month. We’ve been busy gathering little circus animals to decorate. This is Andrea’s handiwork, glittered, flowered and feathered within an inch of their lives.

Meanwhile, I am applying my mad spraypainting skillz and making sure all of the little animals are sufficiently painted. I am doing all of the sewing for the tables. In addition to the pennants (which I’ve had several requests to borrow and buy), I am making the tablecloths and decorating the chairs.

The other big project is called the All American House. This year’s house is at the Carroll Museums in Baltimore where I serve on the board. You can read about it here. This early 1800’s mansion was formerly a house museum, but is now being re-invisioned as an event space. Working with the All American House group, and national chair, Alexa Hampton, local decorators, students, furniture makers, etc. are renovating the house to reflect its All American heritage. Each company is all American, reflecting the organization’s purpose of revitalizing and sustaining the competitiveness of American commerce and industry in a global economy. The debut of this project is May 1, and it’s been all hands on deck with everyone. In fact, on Saturday, I spent the afternoon painting a small bathroom, the largest dimension of which was its height!

And then there’s work! My actual job. I just got the funding to digitize our pre-1900 journals, which is going to be great. But before I can take them to the national scanning center, there’s a lot of work to be done.

I frequently find things like this in the books that I am searching, and I wonder what the circumstance was that lead to someone placing petals in a 1700’s dictionary of chemistry.

I hope you’re keeping busy, too! Look for images of all of the events in future posts.

I don't mean to rain on your parade but the thought of glossing over the cruelty that circus animals suffered in their lives is somewhat unconscionable. In a circus Tent, train what ever means of transportation used to travel from town to town these animals suffered. Bears do not ride bicycles in the wild. That monkey in Ct that basically tore the face off of a woman because the birthday cake was for the Other monkey in the house goes to show you wild animals belong in the wild not in fru fru outfits or in the suburbs. Tigers maul their handlers and killer whales do just that at Sea World. Your talents and energy could tell a more honest story of The Big Top. Yes each day goes by we learn more new things about our American Heritage that didn't make the grade school edition of history books. Too many years, the sanitized version of history is sold to the next generation. As a child of the Fourth Estate ( Journalism) I find it curious as to the angle you are taking with this theme and wonder what the headline will be.

One page of history from the big Top is the tattoo of the carnival peoples. Today one only has to walk down the street and it seems everyone has a tattoo. The tattoo of today no doubt has its roots in the enslaved labor from Africa that built the buildings and grew the food for those of the 13 original colonies.

About Me

Pigtown Design is the musings of Meg Fairfax Fielding, a Baltimore-based writer, photographer and fund-raiser, who explores design, architecture, culture, and current events in Baltimore and around the world.